Popular culture

{{Short description|Widespread norms in a society}} {{for|the song|Pop Culture (song)}}{{Redirect|In popular culture|the Wikipedia guideline|Wikipedia:"In popular culture" content}}{{redirect|Mass Art|the college|MassArt}} {{pp-move}}

'''Popular culture''' (also called '''pop culture''' or '''mass culture''') is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as '''popular art''' [cf. pop art] or '''mass art''', sometimes contrasted with fine art)<ref>{{Cite web |title=popular art |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/popular-art |access-date=2022-12-10 |website=Britannica |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210093513/https://www.britannica.com/art/popular-art |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tavinor |first=Grant |date=2011 |title=Video Games as Mass Art |url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.7523862.0009.009 |journal=Contemporary Aesthetics |volume=9 |hdl=2027/spo.7523862.0009.009 |issn=1932-8478 |access-date=2022-12-10 |archive-date=2023-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063233/https://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/ca/7523862.0009.009?view=text;rgn=main |url-status=live }}</ref> and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a society at a given point in time. Popular culture also encompasses the activities and feelings produced as a result of interaction with these dominant objects. Mass media, marketing, and the imperatives of mass appeal within capitalism constitute the primary engines of Western popular culture—a system philosopher Theodor Adorno critically termed the 'culture industry'.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lane Crothers|title=Globalization and American Popular Culture|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2021|page=48|isbn=978-1538142691|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-gUPEAAAQBAJ&q=%22popular+culture%22+%22culture+industry%22&pg=PA48|access-date=2021-10-02|archive-date=2023-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063235/https://books.google.com/books?id=-gUPEAAAQBAJ&q=%22popular+culture%22+%22culture+industry%22&pg=PA48|url-status=live}}</ref>

Heavily influenced in modern times (after World War Two) by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of people in a given society. Therefore, popular culture exerts a significant influence on an individual's attitudes towards certain topics.<ref>McGaha, Julie. "Popular Culture & Globalization". ''Multicultural Education'' 23.1 (2015): 32–37. ''SocINDEX with Full Text''. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.</ref> However, there are various ways to define pop culture.<ref>Strinati, D. (2004). ''An introduction to theories of popular culture''. Routledge.</ref> Because of this, popular culture is something that can be defined in a variety of conflicting ways by different people across different contexts.<ref>Storey, J. (2018). ''Cultural theory and popular culture: An introduction''. Routledge.</ref> It is generally viewed in contrast to other forms of culture, such as folk culture, working-class culture, or high culture, and also from different academic perspectives, including psychoanalysis, structuralism, postmodernism, and more. The common pop-culture categories are entertainment (e.g., film, music, television, literature and video games), sports, news (as in people/places in the news), politics, fashion, technology, and slang.<ref>{{cite web |last=West |first=Gary |title=What Is Pop Culture? |url=http://mrpopculture.com/what-is-pop-culture |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160829224233/http://www.mrpopculture.com/what-is-pop-culture |archive-date=2016-08-29 |access-date=2015-03-17 |website=Mr. Pop Culture}}</ref>

==History== {{See also|Cultural history}} {{Globalize section| the Anglosphere|date=July 2021}} In the past, folk culture functioned analogously to the popular culture of the masses and of the nations.<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AvwyS1VJukQC |title = Inventing Popular Culture: From Folklore to Globalization|first = John|last= Storey |publisher=John Wiley & Sons|date= 2009 |isbn =978-1405172653|chapter =Popular Culture as Folk Culture}}</ref>

The phrase "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier.<ref>Although the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' lists the first use as 1854, it appears in an address by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in 1818: {{cite book |title= The Address of Pestalozzi to the British Public |year= 1818 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=i6BDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT10 |quote= I see that it is impossible to attain this end without founding the means of popular culture and instruction upon a basis which cannot be got at otherwise than in a profound examination of Man himself; without such an investigation and such a basis all is darkness. |last1= Pestalozzi |first1= Johann Heinrich |access-date= 2020-10-24 |archive-date= 2023-06-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063235/https://books.google.com/books?id=i6BDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PT10 |url-status= live }}</ref> Traditionally,{{when|date=July 2021}} popular culture was associated{{by whom|date=September 2019}} with poor education and with the lower classes,<ref>{{ill|Per Adam Siljeström|sv}}, ''The educational institutions of the United States, their character and organization'', J. Chapman, 1853, p. 243: "Influence of European emigration on the state of civilization in the United States: Statistics of popular culture in America". John Morley presented an address ''On Popular Culture'' at the Birmingham Town Hall in 1876, dealing with the education of the lower classes.</ref> as opposed to the "official culture" and higher education of the upper classes.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berrong |first=Richard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOoe_MqMQe4C&pg=PA13 |title=Rabelais and Bakhtin: Popular Culture in Gargantua and Pantagruel |date=2006-03-01 |publisher=U of Nebraska Press |isbn=978-0-8032-6261-4 |pages=13 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayes |first=E. Bruce |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6jtq0LglIAC&pg=PA9 |title=Rabelais's Radical Farce: Late Medieval Comic Theater and Its Function in Rabelais |date=2010 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. |isbn=978-0-7546-6518-2 |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref> <!-- Victorian-era --> With the rise of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Britain experienced social changes that resulted in increased literacy rates, and with the rise of capitalism and industrialization, people began to spend more money on entertainment, such as (commercialised) public houses and sports. Reading also gained traction. Labeling penny dreadfuls the Victorian equivalent of video games, ''The Guardian'' in 2016 described penny fiction as "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young".<ref>{{cite news |last=Summerscale |first=Kate |date=April 30, 2016 |title=Penny dreadfuls: the Victorian equivalent of video games |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-equivalent-video-games-kate-summerscale-wicked-boy |access-date=23 November 2018 |archive-date=22 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181122215447/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/30/penny-dreadfuls-victorian-equivalent-video-games-kate-summerscale-wicked-boy |url-status=live }}</ref> A growing consumer culture and an increased capacity for travel via the newly invented railway (the first public railway, Stockton and Darlington Railway, opened in north-east England in 1825) created both a market for cheap popular literature and the ability for its distribution on a large scale. The first penny serials were published in the 1830s to meet the growing demand.<ref>{{Cite web|title= Penny dreadfuls|url= https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls|access-date= 2020-06-29|website= The British Library|archive-date= 2020-06-18|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200618162441/https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/penny-dreadfuls|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last= Johnson|first= Charles|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7NnPSAAACAAJ|title= Lives of the Most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads and Murderers|date= 1836|publisher= Lloyd, Purkess & Strange|language= en|access-date= 2020-09-16|archive-date= 2023-06-30|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063232/https://books.google.com/books?id=7NnPSAAACAAJ|url-status= live}}</ref>

The stress on the distinction from "official culture" became more pronounced towards the end of the 19th century,<ref>"Learning is dishonored when she stoops to attract," cited in a section "Popular Culture and True Education" in ''University extension'', Issue 4, The American society for the extension of university teaching, 1894.</ref> a usage that became established by the interbellum period.<ref> e.g. "the making of popular culture plays [in post-revolutionary Russian theater]", Huntly Carter, ''The new spirit in the Russian theatre, 1917–28: And a sketch of the Russian kinema and radio, 1919–28, showing the new communal relationship between the three'', Ayer Publishing, 1929, p. 166.</ref>

From the end of World War II, following major cultural and social changes brought by mass media innovations, the meaning of "popular culture" began to overlap with the connotations of "mass culture", "media culture", "image culture", "consumer culture", and "culture for mass consumption".<ref>"one look at the sheer mass and volume of what we euphemistically call our popular culture suffices", from Winthrop Sargeant, 'In Defense of the High-Brow', an article from ''LIFE'' magazine, 11 April 1949, p. 102.</ref>

The abbreviated form "pop" for "popular", as in "pop music", dates from the late 1950s.<ref name="NewGrovev15p85">''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', volume 15, p. 85 entry ''Pop music''</ref> Although the terms "pop" and "popular" are in some cases used interchangeably, and their meaning partially overlap, the term "pop" is narrower. Pop is specific to something containing qualities of mass appeal, while "popular" refers to what has gained popularity, regardless of its style.<ref name="Steinem1965p73">Steinem, Gloria. [https://books.google.com/books?id=XFMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA73 ''Outs of pop culture''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630063238/https://books.google.com/books?id=XFMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA73 |date=2023-06-30 }}, in ''LIFE'' magazine, 20 August 1965, p. 73 quotations: {{blockquote|Pop Culture–although big, mercurial, and slippery to define—is really an umbrella term that covers anything currently in fashion, all or most of whose ingredients are familiar to the public-at-large. The new dances are a perfect example... Pop Art itself may mean little to the average man, but its vocabulary...is always familiar.}}</ref><ref name="top40.about.com">Bill Lamb, [http://top40.about.com/od/popmusic101/a/popmusic.htm "What Is Pop Music? A Definition"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051020042544/http://top40.about.com/od/popmusic101/a/popmusic.htm |date=2005-10-20 }}, ''About.com'', retrieved 8 March 2012 quotation: {{blockquote|It is tempting to confuse pop music with popular music. The ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', the musicologist's ultimate reference resource, identifies popular music as the music since industrialization in the 1800s that is most in line with the tastes and interests of the urban middle class. This would include an extremely wide range of music from vaudeville and minstrel shows to heavy metal. Pop music, on the other hand, has primarily come into usage to describe music that evolved out of the rock 'n roll revolution of the mid-1950s and continues in a definable path to today.}}</ref>

=== Global Pop Culture Influences ===

==== Japanese Pop Culture Influence ==== In the 1970s, Japan’s post- World War II “liberated” nationalism yielded a cultural shift that started a movement towards technological and financial innovation. Over time, this techno-nationalism produced global phenomena such as Sony and Matsushita (now Panasonic)'s software in Hollywood Studios, the Walkman, large-scale advertisements, and more. <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Iwabuchi |first=Koichi |date=December 2002 |title=“Soft” nationalism and narcissism: Japanese popular culture goes global |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10357820208713357 |journal=Asian Studies Review |language=en |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=447–469 |doi=10.1080/10357820208713357 |issn=1035-7823|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

This movement also created the ''Kawaii'' culture.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781134203741 |title=Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan |date=2007-01-24 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-20374-1 |editor-last=Allen |editor-first=Matthew |location=London |language=en |doi=10.4324/9780203029244 |editor-last2=Sakamoto |editor-first2=Rumi}}</ref> Kawaii was first introduced into popular vernacular in 1914 by Tamaki Kishi in an advertisement for her feminine, chic boutique.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alt |first=Matt |title=Pure invention |date=2020 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-1-9848-2670-1 |edition=1st |location=New York}}</ref> Since then, it has slowly taken on a life of its own as the word used to describe all things cute, adorable, or lovable and is widely intertwined with aspects of Japanese culture, especially characters such as manga icons, Pokémon, and, most notably, Hello Kitty. This “cult of cute,” fronted by companies such as SanRio and Nintendo, appealed to large audiences that spread to East Asia and the West. Today, kawaii culture has a major impact on popular culture worldwide.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alt |first=Matt |title=Pure invention |date=2020 |publisher=Crown |isbn=978-1-9848-2670-1 |edition=1st |location=New York}}</ref>

==Definition== According to author John Storey, there are various definitions of popular culture.<ref>John Storey. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SRN59zg9t9AC ''Cultural Theory and Popular Culture''], pp.&nbsp;4–8.</ref> The quantitative definition of culture has the problem that too much "high culture" (e.g., television dramatizations of Jane Austen) is also "popular". "Pop culture" is also defined as the culture that is "leftover" when we have decided what high culture is.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} However, many works straddle the boundaries, e.g., William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, and George Orwell.

A third definition equates pop culture with "mass culture" and ideas. This is seen as a commercial culture, mass-produced for mass consumption by mass media.<ref>Sérgio Campos Gonçalves, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20190127163020/https://livros01.livrosgratis.com.br/ea000713.pdf Cultura e Sociedade de Consumo: um olhar em retrospecto]", InRevista – Núcleo de Produção Científica em Comunicação – UNAERP (Ribeirão Preto), vol.&nbsp;3, pp.&nbsp;18–28, 2008, {{ISSN|1980-6418}}.</ref> From a Western European perspective, this may be compared to American culture.{{Clarify|date=March 2012}} Alternatively, "pop culture" can be defined as an "authentic" culture of the people, but this can be problematic as there are many ways of defining the "people".{{page needed|date=August 2012}} Storey argued that there is a political dimension to popular culture; neo-Gramscian hegemony theory "sees popular culture as a site of struggle between the 'resistance' of subordinate groups in society and the forces of 'incorporation' operating in the interests of dominant groups in society". A postmodernist approach to popular culture would "no longer recognize the distinction between high and popular culture".

Storey claims that popular culture emerged from the urbanization of the Industrial Revolution. Studies of Shakespeare (by Weimann, Barber, or Bristol, for example) locate much of the characteristic vitality of his drama in its participation in Renaissance popular culture, while contemporary practitioners like Dario Fo and John McGrath use popular culture in its Gramscian sense that includes ancient folk traditions (the ''commedia dell'arte'' for example).<ref>{{ill|Robert Weimann|de}}, ''Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition'' (1967)</ref><ref>Robert Shaughnessy, ''The Cambridge companion to Shakespeare and popular culture'' (2007) p.&nbsp;24.</ref>{{request quotation|date=August 2012}}

Popular culture is constantly evolving and occurs uniquely in place and time. It forms currents and eddies, and represents a complex of mutually interdependent perspectives and values that influence society and its institutions in various ways. For example, certain currents of pop culture may originate from, (or diverge into) a subculture, representing perspectives with which the mainstream popular culture has only limited familiarity. Items of popular culture most typically appeal to a broad spectrum of the public. Important contemporary contributions to understanding what popular culture means have been given by the German researcher Ronald Daus, who studies the impact of extra-European cultures in North America, Asia, and especially in Latin America.

===Levels=== Within the realm of popular culture, there exists an organizational culture. From its beginning, popular culture has revolved around classes in society and the push-back between them. Within popular culture, there are two levels that have emerged, high and low. ''High'' culture can be described as art and works considered of superior value, historically, aesthetically and socially. ''Low'' culture is regarded by some as that of the lower classes, historically.<ref>{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018 |title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |pages=6, 7 |isbn=978-1538107447}}</ref>

===Folklore=== {{Main|Folklore}}

Adaptations based on traditional folklore provide a source of popular culture.<ref>On the Ambiguity of the Three Wise Monkeys A. W. Smith ''Folklore'', Vol.&nbsp;104, No.&nbsp;1/2 (1993), pp.&nbsp;144–150.</ref> This early layer of cultural mainstream still persists today, in a form separate from mass-produced popular culture, propagating by word of mouth rather than via mass media, e.g. in the form of jokes or urban legends. With the widespread use of the Internet from the 1990s, the distinction between mass media and word-of-mouth has become blurred.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

Although the folkloric element of popular culture engages heavily with the commercial element, communities amongst the public have their own tastes and they may not always embrace every cultural or subcultural item sold. Moreover, certain beliefs and opinions about the products of commercial culture may spread by word-of-mouth, and become modified in the process and in the same manner that folklore evolves.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

== Criticism ==

Western popular culture stands persistently accused of functioning as a vast engine of commercialism. This system, critics argue, is designed to privilege products selected and mass-marketed by capitalists. Such criticisms find articulation in the works of Marxist theorists—including luminaries like Herbert Marcuse, Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, bell hooks, Antonio Gramsci, Guy Debord, Fredric Jameson, Terry Eagleton—as well as postmodern philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard (who dissected the commercialization of information under capitalism).<ref>Lyotard, Jean-François (1979). ''La condition postmoderne: rapport sur le savoir''. Paris: Minuit.</ref>

===Frankfurt School=== {{Main|Culture industry}}

The Frankfurt School, particularly Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, delivered critiques through their concept of the "culture industry," explored in their seminal ''Dialectic of Enlightenment.'' Drawing from Kant, Marx, Nietzsche, and others, they argued that capitalist popular culture is far from an authentic expression of the people. Instead, it constitutes a system churning out homogenous, standardized products, manufactured to serve the interests of elite domination. Consumer desire for Hollywood films, pop melodies, and disposable bestsellers is not organic, but shaped by the capitalist behemoths—Hollywood studios, record labels, publishing giants—and the elite gatekeepers who dictate which commodities saturate our media, from television screens to print journalism. As Adorno noted, "The industry bows to the vote it has itself rigged".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adorno |first1=Theordor |title=Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments |last2=Horkheimer |first2=Max |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0-8047-3633-2 |location=Stanford, California |page=106 |chapter=Enlightenment as Mass Decption}}</ref> This elite dictates commodification based on narrow ideological values, habituating audiences to formulaic conventions that, Adorno contended, stifle genuine intellectual engagement.<ref>Adorno & Horkheimer: Dialectic of Enlightenment. p. 100.</ref> His work influenced cultural studies, philosophy, and the New Left.<ref>Held, D. (1980). ''Introduction to Critical Theory: Horkheimer to Habermas.'' Berkeley, University of California Press.</ref>

===Contemporary critique=== {{Main|Imperialism|Cultural imperialism}}

The digital age, as music critic Alex Ross observed in ''New Yorker'' (2014), has only magnified Adorno's relevance.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ross |first=Alex |date=8 September 2014 |title=The Naysayers |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/15/naysayers |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210802170013/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/15/naysayers |archive-date=Aug 2, 2021 |access-date=20 July 2021 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> The success of phenomena like the Harry Potter franchise, as critiqued by Jack Zipes, exemplifies this mass commercialization and corporate hegemony. Zipes contends that culture industry commodities achieve "popularity" precisely through their homogeneity and adherence to formula. The media, he argues, actively molds children's tastes.<ref>Zipes, J. (2002). ''Sticks and Stones: The Troublesome Success of Children's Literature from Slovenly Peter to Harry Potter.'' p. 175.</ref> Postmodern sociologist Jean Baudrillard presented a stark view of the consumer's role. He argued that individuals are relentlessly conditioned to pursue the maximization of pleasure as a social duty – a failure to participate risks rendering one ''asocial''.<ref>Baudrillard. J. (1998). ''The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures.'' p. 80.</ref> His core critique held that products of capitalist culture, especially those marketed as rebellious, can only offer an illusion of defiance. True rebellion is impossible because the system producing these commodities remains firmly controlled by the powerful.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Genosko |first1=Gary |last2=Bryx |first2=Adam |date=July 2004 |title=The Matrix Decoded: Le Nouvel Observateur Interview With Jean Baudrillard |url=https://baudrillardstudies.ubishops.ca/the-matrix-decoded-le-nouvel-observateur-interview-with-jean-baudrillard/ |url-status=live |journal=International Journal of Baudrillard Studies |volume=1 |issn=1705-6411 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200404090328/https://baudrillardstudies.ubishops.ca/the-matrix-decoded-le-nouvel-observateur-interview-with-jean-baudrillard/ |archive-date=2020-04-04 |access-date=2020-04-11 |number=2}}</ref>

Scholarship robustly demonstrates how Western entertainment industries fortify transnational capitalism and cement Western cultural dominance.<ref>Lee Artz (2015). ''Global Entertainment Media: A Critical Introduction''. 167–175.</ref> Consequently, commercial entertainment is less an authentic local expression and more a culture amplified by transnational media conglomerates,<ref>Hearts and Mines: ''The US Empire’s Culture Industry'' Tanner Mirrlees . Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2016. 336 pp.</ref> leading to an homogenization of cultural identities, eroding diverse traditions in favor of marketable forms.<ref>Sayre, Shay; Cynthia King (2010). Entertainment and Society: Influences, Impacts, and Innovations (2nd ed.). Oxon, New York: Routledge. p. 31.</ref> These conglomerates—vast media empires controlling music labels, film studios, streaming platforms, and news outlets—are often answerable primarily to shareholders demanding ever-increasing returns.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McChesney |first=Robert |title=Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy. |date=2013 |publisher=New York: The New Press.}}</ref> This shareholder primacy incentivizes cost-cutting and profit maximization at the expense of ethical considerations, including fair artist compensation beyond the top tier, safe working conditions, and sustainable sourcing. The advertising revenue that underpins "free" platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Spotify, crucial for promoting stars, is generated through sophisticated surveillance and data extraction, commodifying user attention and privacy on an unprecedented scale.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Zuboff |first=S. |title=The Age of Surveillance Capitalism |date=2019}}</ref>

===Corporate exploitation === The culture industry not only standardizes taste but also rests upon and obscures a foundation of global exploitation, resource plunder, and the relentless pursuit of shareholder value above human dignity and ecological sustainability.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Srnicek |first=N |title=Platform Capitalism |date=2017}}</ref> While mega-stars achieve immense wealth, the system is structured so that the vast majority of revenue flows upwards: to platform owners, shareholders, and executives. The success of celebrities becomes a powerful marketing tool for the conglomerate itself, boosting its stock price and attracting investment, while obscuring the exploitative labour practices and environmental damage embedded within its global supply chains. The very devices essential for consuming this culture often rely on minerals mined under appalling conditions. Cobalt and tantalum, critical for electronics, are frequently sourced from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo using child labour and artisanal miners facing lethal hazards and exploitation, generating vast profits for multinational conglomerates further up the supply chain.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=Amnesty International. (2023). "This is what we die for": Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt. London: Amnesty International Ltd. |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr62/3183/2016/en/ }}</ref>

===Feminist critique=== The influential feminist scholar bell hooks delivers a searing intersectional critique. She argues that commercial celebrities and their branded commodities cannot authentically symbolize liberation while being structurally dependent on – and actively reinforcing – imperialist capitalism and oppressive beauty standards. Hooks dissects figures like Beyoncé not merely as artists, but as nodes within a vast profit machinery: her global stardom increases the wealth of corporate giants (Pepsi, Adidas), luxury brands (her Ivy Park brand), and the extractive ad-revenue engines of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Beyoncé’s ascent to billionaire status, hooks contends, exemplifies how such success is built upon and fuels the very systems of patriarchal capitalism it might superficially appear to challenge. Her power derives from, and legitimizes, the industries profiting from exploitation.<ref>bell hooks: https://genius.com/Bell-hooks-beyonce-is-a-terrorist-annotated {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728034039/https://genius.com/Bell-hooks-beyonce-is-a-terrorist-annotated|date=2021-07-28}}</ref><ref>bell hooks. [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/capitalism-of-beyonce-lemonade-album Beyoncé's Lemonade is capitalist money-making at its best] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728034043/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/may/11/capitalism-of-beyonce-lemonade-album|date=2021-07-28}}. Guardian. 2016</ref>

===Media critique=== {{Main|Propaganda}}

The very structure of mass media facilitates control, as Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky argued in their pivotal 1988 work, ''Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media''. They posit that a powerful elite, driven by its own interests, controls and manipulates mainstream information flow. Mass media, therefore, operates as a sophisticated system of propaganda:{{blockquote |In sum, a propaganda approach to media coverage suggests a systematic and highly political dichotomization in news coverage based on serviceability to important domestic power interests. This should be observable in dichotomized choices of story and in the volume and quality of coverage... such dichotomization in the mass media is massive and systematic: not only are choices for publicity and suppression comprehensible in terms of system advantage, but the modes of handling favored and inconvenient materials (placement, tone, context, fullness of treatment) differ in ways that serve political ends.<ref>''Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media''. 1988. pp. 19–20. Noam Chomsky & Edward S. Herman</ref> }}Popular culture has frequently served as a vehicle for imperialist ideologies. John M. MacKenzie highlights how many such products were crafted to glorify the British upper classes and promote imperialist worldviews, rather than reflecting a democratic perspective.<ref name="John M 1986">John M. MacKenzie. ''Imperialism and Popular Culture''. 1986, Manchester University Press 155</ref>

==Sources==

===Print culture=== {{Main|Print culture}}

With the invention of the printing press in the sixteenth century, mass-produced, cheap books, pamphlets and periodicals became widely available to the public. With this, the transmission of common knowledge and ideas was possible.<ref>{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018 |title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=112 |isbn=978-1538107447}}</ref>

===Radio culture=== {{Main|Radio broadcasting}}

In the 1890s, Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi created the radiotelegraph, allowing for the modern radio to be born. This led to the radio being able to influence a more "listened-to" culture, with individuals being able to feel like they have a more direct impact.<ref>{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018|title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=157 |isbn=978-1538107447}}</ref> This radio culture is vital, because it was imperative to advertising, and it introduced the commercial.

===Films=== {{Main|Film}}

Films and cinema are highly influential to popular culture, as films as an art form are what people seem to respond to the most.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last=Danesi |first=Marcel |date=2018|title=Popular Culture: Introductory Perspectives |url=https://public.ebookcentral.proquest.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=5430391 |location=TAMU Libraries |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |page=195 |isbn=978-1538107447}}</ref> With moving pictures being first captured by Eadweard Muybridge in 1877, films have evolved into elements that can be cast into different digital formats, spreading to different cultures.

The impact of films and cinema are most evident when analyzing in the search of what the films aim to portray.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Films as Social and Cultural History|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/socialhist.html|access-date=2020-12-01|website=historymatters.gmu.edu|archive-date=2020-11-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114002211/http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/film/socialhist.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Films are used to seek acceptance and understanding of many subjects because of the influence the films carry—an example of an early representation of this can be seen in ''Casablanca'' (1942): the film introduced war subjects to the public after the United States entered World War II, and it meant to increase pro-war sentiment for the allies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jackson|first=Kathy|title=Playing it again and again: Casablanca's impact on American mass media and popular culture.|journal=Journal of Popular Film & Television|year=2000|volume=27|issue=4|pages=33–41, 9p|doi=10.1080/01956050009602813|s2cid=191490559}}</ref> Films are a known massive influencer to popular culture yet not all films create a movement that contributes enough to be part of the popular culture that starts movements.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The content must resonate to most of the public so the knowledge in the material connects with the majority.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} Popular culture is a set of beliefs in trends and entail to change a person's set of ideologies and create social transformation.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal|last=Kubrak|first=Tina|title=Impact of Films: Changes in Young People's Attitudes after Watching a Movie|journal=Behavioral Sciences|year=2020|volume= 10| issue = 5|page=86|doi=10.3390/bs10050086|pmid=32370280|pmc=7288198|doi-access=free}}</ref> The beliefs are still a trend that change more rapidly in the modern age that carries a continuation of outpouring media and more specifically films. The trend does not last but it also carries a different effect based on individuals that can be grouped to generalized groups based on age and education.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} The creation of culture by films is seen in fandoms, religions, ideologies, and movements. The culture of film is more evident through social media. Social media is an instant source of feedback and creates discussion on films. A repeating event that has been set in modern culture within the trend setting phase is the creation of movements in social media platforms to defend a featured subject on a film.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hallinan|first=Blake|title=Recommended for you: The Netflix Prize and the production of algorithmic culture|journal=New Media and Society|volume=2016|pages=117–137}}</ref>

Popular culture or mass culture, is reached easily with films which are easily shared and reached worldwide.<ref name=":0" />

===Television programs=== {{Main|Television program}}

A television program is a segment of audiovisual content intended for broadcast (other than a commercial, trailer, or other content not serving as attraction for viewership).

Television programs may be fictional (as in comedies and dramas), or non-fictional (as in documentary, light entertainment, news and reality television). They may be topical (as in the case of a local newscast and some made-for-television movies), or historical (as in the case of many documentaries and fictional series). They can be primarily instructional or educational, or entertaining as is the case in situation comedy and game shows.{{Citation needed|date=September 2015}}

===Music=== {{Main|Popular music}}

Popular music is music with wide appeal<ref name="PopMusic1" /><ref>{{Cite web|title = Definition of "popular music" {{!}} Collins English Dictionary|url = http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/popular-music|website = www.collinsdictionary.com|access-date = 2015-11-15|archive-date = 2019-03-27|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190327184256/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/popular-music|url-status = live}}</ref> that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.<ref name="PopMusic1">Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia''</ref> It stands in contrast to both art music<ref name="PopMusic2">{{Cite book|title = The New Oxford Companion Music, Volume 1: A–J|last = Arnold|first = Denis|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 1983|isbn = 978-0-19-311316-9|page = 111}}</ref><ref name="PopMusic4">{{Cite journal|url = http://www.tagg.org/articles/xpdfs/pm2anal.pdf |title = Analysing popular music: theory, method and practice|last = Tagg|first = Philip|date = 1982|journal = Popular Music|volume = 2|pages = 37–67|doi = 10.1017/S0261143000001227|citeseerx = 10.1.1.628.7469| s2cid=35426157 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180721225511/http://www.tagg.org/articles/xpdfs/pm2anal.pdf|archive-date = 2018-07-21}}</ref> and traditional or "folk" music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local audiences.<ref name="PopMusic2" />

===Sports=== {{Main|Sport}}

Sports include all forms of competitive physical activity or games which,<ref name=sportaccord>{{cite web |publisher=SportAccord |url=http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/index.php?idIndex=32&idContent=14881 |title=Definition of sport |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111028112912/http://www.sportaccord.com/en/members/index.php?idIndex=32&idContent=14881 |archive-date=28 October 2011}}</ref> through casual or organized participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators.<ref name=council>{{cite web|last=Council of Europe|title=The European sport charter|url=https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=206451|access-date=5 March 2012|archive-date=6 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606204451/https://search.coe.int/cm/Pages/result_details.aspx?ObjectID=09000016804c9dbb|url-status=live}}</ref> The connection between sports and popular culture is significant in recent times because there is an influx of sport history to keep track of, as sports journalists produce quality pieces, more sports museums are developed, and there are various radio, film, and television documentaries. Sport history has embraced popular culture as it has expanded its horizons on elite athletes and governing bodies, to the study of every day activities. It has broadened its perspective by connecting sports and athletes with class, gender, ethnicity, and disability. Sports are becoming more popular in the eyes of society, and impacting human culture as they get more invested in the game, and perhaps even play the sports themselves in their neighborhoods. Museums also show sports as popular culture, such as Stuart Clarke’s "The Homes of Football" photographic collection in the National Football Museum.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moore |first=Kevin |date=2013 |title=Sport History, Public History, and Popular Culture: A Growing Engagement |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jsporthistory.40.1.39 |journal=Journal of Sport History |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=39–55 |doi=10.5406/jsporthistory.40.1.39 |jstor=10.5406/jsporthistory.40.1.39 |issn=0094-1700|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Corporate branding=== {{Main|Corporate branding}}

Corporate branding refers to the practice of promoting the brand name of a corporate entity, as opposed to specific products or services.<ref>{{cite web | title=Pop Culture: An Overview – Issue 64 | website=Philosophy Now | url=https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview | access-date=July 2, 2018 | archive-date=March 22, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322195719/https://philosophynow.org/issues/64/Pop_Culture_An_Overview | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Personal branding=== {{Main|Personal branding}}

Personal branding includes the use of social media to promotion to brands and topics to further good repute among professionals in a given field, produce an iconic relationship between a professional, a brand and its audience that extends networks past the conventional lines established by the mainstream and to enhance personal visibility. Popular culture: is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of the practices, beliefs, and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a society at a given point in time. As celebrities online identities are extremely important in order to create a brand to line-up sponsorships, jobs, and opportunities. As influencers, micro-celebrities, and users constantly need to find new ways to be unique or stay updated with trends, in order to maintain followers, views, and likes.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|title=Building a personal brand through social networking.|journal=Journal of Business Strategy|last1=Harris|first1=L|last2=Rae|first2=A|date=2011|volume=32|issue=5|pages=14–21|publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited|doi=10.1108/02756661111165435|url=https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/182817/1/Personal_branding2.doc|access-date=2020-09-16|archive-date=2021-02-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205162153/https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/182817/1/Personal_branding2.doc|url-status=live}}</ref> For example, Ellen DeGeneres has created her own personal branding through her talk show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show''. As she developed her brand we can see the branches she created to extend her fan base such as Ellen clothing, socks, pet beds, and more.

=== Social media === {{Main|Social media}}

{{See also|Information Age}}

Social media is interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, TikTok and Snapchat are the most popular applications used on a daily basis by younger generations. Social media tends to be implemented into the daily routine of individuals in our current society. Social media is a vital part of our culture as it continues to impact the forms of communication used to connect with those in our communities, families, or friend groups.<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2017/12/how-social-media-influences-culture-and-language|title=How social media influences culture and language|website=The Johns Hopkins News-Letter|access-date=2020-04-04|archive-date=2020-07-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728015143/https://www.jhunewsletter.com/article/2017/12/how-social-media-influences-culture-and-language|url-status=live}}</ref> We often see that terms or slang are used online that is not used in face-to-face conversations, thus, adding to a persona users create through the screens of technology.<ref name=":02" /> For example, some individuals respond to situations with a hashtag or emojis.<ref name=":02" />

Social media influencers have become trendsetters<ref>{{Cite web |last=T |first=Abdullah |title=mpact of Social Media Influencers on Instagram User Purchase Intention towards the Fashion Products: The Perspectives of UMK Pengkalan Chepa Campus Students. European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine. |year=2020 |url=http://myscholar.umk.edu.my/handle/123456789/1413 |access-date=2023-05-07 |archive-date=2023-06-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630064233/http://myscholar.umk.edu.my/handle/123456789/1413 |url-status=live }}</ref> through their direct engagement with large audiences, upending conventional marketing and advertising techniques. Consumer purchase choices have been impacted by fashion partnerships, sponsored material and outfit ideas offered by influencers. Social media has also made fashion more accessible by fostering uniqueness, expanding the depiction of trends, and facilitating the rise of niche influencers. The influencer-driven fashion industry, nevertheless, has also come under fire for encouraging excessive consumerism, inflated beauty ideals, and labour exploitation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zak |first1=Stefan |last2=Hasprova |first2=Maria |date=2020 |title=The role of influencers in the consumer decision-making process |url=https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/abs/2020/02/shsconf_glob2020_03014/shsconf_glob2020_03014.html |journal=SHS Web of Conferences |language=en |volume=74 |pages=03014 |doi=10.1051/shsconf/20207403014 |s2cid=214275868 |issn=2261-2424 |access-date=2023-05-07 |archive-date=2023-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230329145603/https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/abs/2020/02/shsconf_glob2020_03014/shsconf_glob2020_03014.html |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Influences== Pop culture has had a lasting influence to the products being released in their time. Many examples of art, books, films and others, have been inspired by pop culture. These include:

===Pop art=== {{Main|Pop art}}

Pop art is an art movement that first emerged in the 1950s as a reaction and a counter to traditional and high-class art by including common and well-known images and references.<ref>[https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/pop-art ''Pop Art: A Brief History'', MoMA Learning]</ref> Artists known during this movement include Eduardo Paolozzi, Richard Hamilton, Larry Rivers, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol.<ref>{{cite book| last=Harrison| first=Sylvia |title=Pop Art and the Origins of Post-Modernism| publisher=Cambridge University Press| date=2001-08-27}}</ref>

===Pop music=== {{Main|Pop music}}

Pop music is a wide-ranging genre of music whose characteristics include styles and tones that have a wider and more massive appeal to all kinds of consumers.<ref name="Firth2001">S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), {{ISBN|0-521-55660-0}}, pp.&nbsp;95–105.</ref> Oftentimes, many examples of these music contain influences from other pre-existing works.<ref name=":1">Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia''</ref> The origins of popular music began in the late 1800s with the inventions of Edison’s phonograph and Berliner’s gramophone, both of which allowed for music to be available for purchase to the public rather than access to just the elites. Due to the almost nonexistent copyright laws, the early 1900s flourished with composers and publishers aiming to make and sell as much music as they could. The hub for this activity was a small area of New York known as Tin Pan Alley, which quickly became one of the major spots for popular music as the demand grew intensely.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Publisher |first=Author removed at request of original |date=2016-03-22 |title=6.2 The Evolution of Popular Music |publisher=University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2016. This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that it not receive attribution. |url=https://open.lib.umn.edu/mediaandculture/chapter/6-2-the-evolution-of-popular-music/ |language=en}}</ref> Technological advances in the 1940s only furthered the success and popularity of the genre. The reel-to-tape recorder was groundbreaking in terms of innovation and served as the baseline for many more transformations this genre and the music industry as a whole will endure. Along with the continued innovation of popular music, multiple subset genres emerged as the new faces of popular music, all with the foundation of jazz and blues. Some of those genres include Rock and Roll, Punk, and Hip Hop.<ref name=":4" /> Due to the increasing mainstream success of popular music, artists of the genre grew in fame and popularity. A few of the major singers and musicians of this genre include Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, Elvis Presley, Beatles, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift. Popular music will continue to be shaped by, and evolve to fit the tastes and preferences of the public.

===Pop culture fiction=== {{Main|Pop culture fiction}}

Pop culture fiction is a genre in books, comics, films, shows, and many other story-telling media that depicts stories that are purposely filled with easter eggs and references to pop culture.<ref name="Fiction1">{{cite web|url=https://electricliterature.com/should-fiction-be-timeless-pop-culture-references-in-contemporary-novels/|title=Should Fiction Be Timeless? Pop Culture References in Contemporary Novels|website=Electric Lit|author=Pickard, Kevin|date=19 January 2016 }} January 19, 2016</ref><ref name="Kid">{{cite web|url=https://bkpcarreon.com/2025/04/29/homage/|title=Homage: Pastiche, Pop Culture Fic|website=Carreon.Com|author=Carreon, BKP|date=29 April 2025 }}</ref> The genre often overlaps with satire and parody, but the most-well known are considered to be more serious works of literature. Writers of this genre include Ernest Cline, Bret Easton Ellis, and Bryan Lee O'Malley.<ref name="Lit2">{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/748176154/A-Guide-to-Writing-Pop-Culture-Fiction|title=A Guide to Writing Pop Culture Fiction|website=Literary Hub|author=Renault, Henry Percy|date=15 October 2022 }}</ref>

===Pop culture studies=== {{Main|Pop culture studies}}

Pop culture studies are researches thesis, and other academic works that analyzes various trends of pop and mass culture, pop icons, or the effects and influences of pop culture in society and history. Ray B. Browne is one of the first academicians to conduct courses on the studies about pop culture.<ref name="raybrowne">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/education/28browne.html?_r=0 | title=Ray Browne, 87, Founder of Pop-Culture Studies, Dies | work=The New York Times | date=27 October 2009 | access-date=12 March 2014 | author=Fox, Margalit}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Society}} *{{Anl|Monoculture (popular culture)}} * {{annotated link|Culture industry}} * {{annotated link|Fad|Fads}} * {{annotated link|Fine art}} * {{Anl|Korean Wave}} * ''{{annotated link|The Journal of Popular Culture}}'' * {{annotated link|Underground culture}} ** {{annotated link|Lowbrow (art movement)|Lowbrow}} * {{annotated link|MTV Generation}} * {{annotated link|Pop icon}} * {{annotated link|Celebrity influence in politics}}

==Notes== {{Reflist}}

==References== {{Refbegin}} * Ashby, LeRoy. "The Rising of Popular Culture: A Historiographical Sketch," ''OAH Magazine of History,'' 24 (April 2010), 11–14. * Ashby, LeRoy. ''With Amusement for All: A History of American Popular Culture since 1830'' (2006). * {{Interlanguage link|Moritz Baßler|de}}: ''Der deutsche Pop-Roman. Die neuen Archivisten'' (''The German Pop-Novel. The new archivists''), C.H. Beck, München 2002, {{ISBN|3-406-47614-7}}. * Bakhtin, M. M. and Michael Holquist, Vadim Liapunov, Kenneth Brostrom (1981). ''The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays'' (University of Texas Press Slavic Series). Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin and London: University of Texas Press. * Browne, Ray B. and Pat Browne, eds. ''The Guide to U.S. Popular Culture'' (2001), 1010 pages; essays by experts on many topics. * Burke, Peter. "Popular Culture Reconsidered," ''Storia della Storiografia'' 1990, Issue 17, pp.&nbsp;40–49. * Freitag, Sandria B. "Popular Culture in the Rewriting of History: An Essay in Comparative History and Historiography," ''Journal of Peasant Studies,'' 1989, Vol. 16 Issue 3, pp. 169–198. * Gans, Herbert J. ''Popular Culture and High Culture: an Analysis and Evaluation of Taste''. New York: Basic Books, 1974. xii, 179 p. {{ISBN|0-465-06021-8}} * Gerson, Stéphane. "' A World of Their Own': Searching for Popular Culture in the French Countryside," ''French Politics, Culture and Society,'' Summer 2009, Vol. 27 Issue 2, pp. 94–110 * Golby, J. M. and A.W. Purdue, ''The civilisation of the crowd: popular culture in England, 1750–1900'' (1985) [https://archive.org/details/civilisationofc00golb online] * Griffin, Emma. "Popular Culture in Industrializing England," ''Historical Journal,'' (2002) 45#3 pp. 619–635. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3133499 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119134018/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3133499 |date=2018-11-19 }}, Historiography * Hassabian, Anahid (1999). "Popular", ''Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture'', eds.: Horner, Bruce and Swiss, Thomas. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. {{ISBN|0-631-21263-9}}. * Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, 2016: ''Globalized Muslim Youth in the Asia Pacific: Popular Culture in Singapore and Sydney'', New York: Palgrave. {{ISBN|978-1-137-54264-9}}. * Knight, Robert H. ''The Age of Consent: the Rise of Relativism and the Corruption of Popular Culture''. Dallas, Tex.: Spence Publishing Co., 1998. xxiv, 253, [1] p. {{ISBN|1-890626-05-8}} * Ross, Andrew. ''No Respect: Intellectuals & Popular Culture''. New York: Routledge, 1989. ix, 269 p. {{ISBN|0-415-90037-9}} (pbk.) * Seabrook, John. ''NoBrow : the culture of marketing the marketing of culture'', New York: A.A. Knopf, 2000. {{ISBN|0-375-40504-6}}. * Storey, John (2006). ''Cultural theory and popular culture''. Pearson Education. {{ISBN|978-0-13-197068-7}}. * {{cite journal |last=Stoykov |first=Lubomir |title=Politics and pop culture. Celebrity and communicative perspectives of the modern politician. |journal=Media and Social Communications |publisher=The University of National and World Economy/Alma communication |issue=19 |date=January 2014 |url=http://www.media-journal.info/?p=item&aid=355 |access-date=2018-08-23 |archive-date=2018-08-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823210426/http://www.media-journal.info/?p=item&aid=355 |url-status=live }} * Swirski, Peter (2010). ''Ars Americana Ars Politica: Partisan Expression in Contemporary American Literature and Culture''. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3766-8}}. * Swirski, Peter (2005). ''From Lowbrow to Nobrow''. Montreal, London: McGill-Queen's University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3019-5}}. * [https://ssrn.com/abstract=2046498 On Religion and Popular Culture] {{Refend}}

==Further reading== * Duncan, Barry (1988). ''Mass Media and Popular Culture''. Toronto, Ont.: Harcourt, Brace & Co. Canada. {{ISBN|0-7747-1262-7}}. * Rosenberg, Bernard, and David Manning White, joint. eds. ''Mass Culture: the Popular Arts in America''. [New York]: Free Press of Glencoe, 1957. * Cowen, Tyler, "For Some Developing Countries, America's Popular Culture Is Resistible". ''The New York Times'', 22 February 2007, sec. C, p.&nbsp;3. * Furio, Joanne, "The Significance of MTV and Rap Music in Popular Culture". ''The New York Times'', 29 December 1991, sec. VI, p.&nbsp;2.

==External links== * {{commons-inline}} * {{wikiquote-inline}} * {{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Culture}} {{Humanities}} {{authority control}}

Category:Popular culture Category:Media studies